I saw a “dumpster in a bag” for the first time on my Monday night run. I thought it was kind of weird so I looked it up. Apparently you buy the bag at the store for around 40$, and then you pay an extra 100$ for them to come and pick it up. I can see why one might want to use this if doing renovations, but the bag was mostly filled with household junk that could easily have been put into regular bags. No matter, these people certainly have a little money to blow – the bag sat in front of a recently sold house in a nice part of town.
This box was the only thing in the bag that was of much interest.
It contained an original 1949 WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). It’s basically an IQ test for children.
A lot of the science from that time was questionable. However, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly offensive about this test, particularly when compared to my found copy of the DSM-II that listed homosexuality as a mental illness. (I later sold that book for 280$). Nonetheless, it’s still quite outdated – the most recent version is the WISC V, though I can’t claim to know what’s different about it.
There were several smaller boxes containing different tests.
The four wide and thin boxes contained drawings to be assembled.
This one was a face. I finished it in a minute. Do I win?
Another box contained nine coloured blocks. I’m not sure how they would have been used.
The largest box held a picture arrangement test.
It also came with a bunch of maze tests and unused report cards.
I really enjoyed finding this – I’m now able to better imagine what child psychology would have looked like in the 1950s. One of my favourite past-times is imagining what life was like in days gone by. As for value, I expect to be able to sell it for around 50-60$. It’d be worth a bit more, but I’m missing one book (which helps the psychologist interpret the tests) and it doesn’t come with a fancy suitcase.
I otherwise came across a collection of buttons in NDG. Whoever owned them was really into activism in the 1980s. My favourites were the two featuring Jean Doré. Doré was the leader of the Montreal Citizens’ Movement and Mayor of Montreal from 1986-1994. He replaced Jean Drapeau, the extravagant visionary who had served the 26 years prior. Doré recently passed away at the age of 70.